#fireball – The last Sunday of Frostbite racing in Dun Laoghaire for 2013 was brought to an early close when the Race Team decided that the combination of the overnight weather forecast (Storm Force 9) and the actual conditions meant that racing should not proceed. There didn't seem to be too much objection to the decision from those who were in the clubhouse of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club when the Race Team made their decision public. Some three hours later, when a modest gathering formed at the clubhouse for the series prize-giving, the wisdom of the decision to abandon racing was confirmed when the comment was made "that you wouldn't have wanted to be on the water at 14:45!"
Considering that the entry level for the Frostbites is nearly ninety boats, the turn out for the prize-giving was modest – none of the four classes, PY, Lasers, RS Classes and Fireballs had a full turnout of the 1-2-3 prizewinners. Due thanks were recorded to the Race Team who have provided racing from November 3rd by the principle organizer and MC for the prize-giving at each Sunday and yesterday, Olivier Proveur. He, in turn, was thanked by a member of the Race Team for all his effort.
The Fireball results for Series 1 of the Frostbites have seen an unusual scenario, Messrs Butler and Oram back in third place overall, without a 2013/14 Frostbite Mug in their respective trophy cabinets. However, that observation has to be tempered by the fact that only four points cover the top three boats. The loss of yesterday's race also meant that there is no discard for Series 1 so the results of two weeks ago are now the final results.
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2013/14 Frostbites: Series 1 Overall (No discard.) |
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Kenneth Rumball & David Moran |
15058 |
INSC |
12pts |
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Conor Clancy & Paul Devlin |
14807 |
RStGYC |
15pts |
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Noel Butler & Stephen Oram |
15061 |
DMYC |
16pts |
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Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire |
14865 |
DMYC |
37pts |
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Neil Colin & Margaret Casey |
14775 |
DMYC |
38pts |
Prizes took the form of "Frostbite calendars" based on the collection of racing photographs taken by Bob Hobby, a key member of the Frostbite Race Team.
For the Irish Fireball fleet, this brings the curtain down on the domestic season for 2013. It saw us lose one regatta during the year when the Open Championships was reduced to a single race in early May in Killaloe. The other stark feature of the season has been the fall-off in numbers, yet those who did turn out for the regattas enjoyed enhanced competition and some memorable racing, particularly at the Nationals in Skerries and the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta where we had wind and glorious sunshine. In what turned out to be a very successful venture we hosted an Open Day in November to try and attract new people into the fleet – we had seventeen "takers".
At international level we had six boats at the Europeans and Worlds in Slovenia and had a top ten finisher in the Europeans with the Rumball brothers, Alexander and Kenneth. At the Worlds, Noel Butler & Stephen Oram together with Kenneth Rumball and David Moran, flew the Irish flag in overall terms and we had one top-ten finish in a race, when Louis Smyth and Cormac Bradley recorded a 9th place. Three Irish boats contested the UK Inland Championships and enjoyed the event so much they are already committed to doing the 2014 event. We should also be taking advantage of the UK Nationals which are scheduled for Wales in August 2014 as a preamble to the Worlds coming to Wales the following year. There is also an expectation that the Irish will be in the Shetlands for the 2014 Europeans.
At a committee meeting before yesterday's abandoned race, the provisional calendar for 2014 was discussed and while there are some key dates (and venues) that need to be confirmed we believe that we have a workable fixture list for 2014, which will be finalized over the next few weeks.
Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to all!
